Image coding method and device for buffer management of decoder, and image decoding method and device

ABSTRACT

Provided are methods and apparatuses for encoding and decoding an image. Method of encoding includes: determining a maximum size of a buffer to decode each image frame by a decoder, a number of image frames to be reordered, and latency information of an image frame having a largest difference between an encoding order and a display order from among image frames that form an image sequence, based on an encoding order the image frames that form the image sequence, an encoding order of reference frames referred to by the image frames, a display order of the image frames, and a display order of the reference frames; and adding, to a mandatory sequence parameter set, a first syntax indicating the maximum size of the buffer, a second syntax indicating the number of image frames to be reordered, and a third syntax indicating the latency information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/492,123, filed onApr. 20, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/386,625, filed on Dec. 21, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,699,471, issuedJul. 4, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/221,652, filed on Jul. 28, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,560,370, issuedJan. 31, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/287,685 filed on May 27, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,438,901, issuedSep. 6, 2016, which is a continuation of PCT/KR2012/009972, filed onNov. 23, 2012, which claims priority from Korean Patent Application No.10-2012-0034093, filed on Apr. 2, 2012 in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office (KIPO), and claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/563,678, filed on Nov. 25, 2011. The entiredisclosures of the prior applications are considered part of thedisclosure of the accompanying continuation application, and are herebyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate toencoding and decoding an image, and more particularly, to efficientlyencoding and decoding information for controlling and managing a decodedpicture buffer (DPB) storing a decoded picture.

2. Description of the Related Art

In a video codec, such as ITU-T H.261, ISO/IEC MPEG-1 visual, ITU-TH.262 (ISO/IEC MPEG-2 visual), ITU-T H.264, ISO/IEC MPEG-4 visual, orITU-T H.264 (ISO/IEC MPEG-4 AVC), a macroblock is predictive encoded viainter prediction or intra prediction, and a bitstream is generated fromencoded image data according to a predetermined format defined by eachvideo codec and is output.

SUMMARY

Aspects of one or more exemplary embodiments provide a method andapparatus for encoding an image, wherein information for controlling andmanaging a buffer of a decoder is efficiently encoded, and a method andapparatus for decoding an image, wherein a buffer is efficiently managedby using information for controlling and managing the buffer.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, information aboutbuffer size, which is used to decode pictures included in a videosequence, is mandatorily included in a bitstream and transmitted, and adecoder can decode a picture by assigning a buffer size based on theinformation.

Also, according to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, informationused to determine when to output picture stored in the buffer ismandatorily included in the bitstream and transmitted.

According to aspects of one or more exemplary embodiments, systemresources of a decoder can be prevented from being wasted because buffersize information to decode pictures included in an image sequence ismandatorily added to and transmitted with a bitstream, and the decoderuses the buffer size information to perform decoding by assigning abuffer size as required. Also, according to one or more exemplaryembodiments, information for determining an output time of a picturestored in a buffer is mandatorily added to and transmitted with abitstream, and a decoder may pre-determine whether to output apre-decoded image frame by using the information for determining anoutput time of a picture stored in the buffer to thereby prevent anoutput latency of a decoded image frame.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided amethod of encoding an image, the method including: determining referenceframes respectively of image frames that form an image sequence byperforming motion prediction and compensation, and encoding the imageframes by using the determined reference frames; determining a maximumsize of a buffer to decode the encoded image frames by a decoder and anumber of image frames to be reordered, based on an encoding order ofthe image frames, an encoding order of the reference frames referred toby the image frames, a display order of the image frames, and a displayorder of the reference frames; determining latency information of animage frame having a largest difference between an encoding order and adisplay order, from among the image frames that form the image sequence,based on the number of image frames to be reordered; and adding, to amandatory sequence parameter set that is a set of information related toencoding of the image sequence, a first syntax indicating the determinedmaximum size of the buffer, a second syntax indicating the determinednumber of image frames to be ordered, and a third syntax indicating thedetermined latency information.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided an apparatus for encoding an image, the apparatus including: anencoder configured to determine reference frames respectively of imageframes that form an image sequence by performing motion prediction andcompensation, and to encode the image frames by using the determinedreference frames; and an outputter configured to determine a maximumsize of a buffer to decode the image frames by a decoder and a number ofimage frames to be reordered, based on an encoding order of the imageframes, an encoding order of the reference frames referred to by theimage frames, a display order of the image frames, and a display orderof the reference frames, to determine latency information of an imageframe having a largest difference between an encoding order and adisplay order, from among the image frames that form the image sequence,based on the number of image frames to be reordered, and to generate abitstream by adding, to a mandatory sequence parameter set that is a setof information related to encoding of the image sequence, a first syntaxindicating the determined maximum size of the buffer, a second syntaxindicating the determined number of image frames to be ordered, and athird syntax indicating the determined latency information.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a method of decoding an image, the method including: obtaining,from a bitstream, a first syntax indicating a maximum size of a bufferto decode each of image frames that form an image sequence, a secondsyntax indicating a number of image frames displayed after apost-decoded image frame and to be reordered, and a third syntaxindicating latency information of an image frame having a largestdifference between a decoding order and a display order from among theimage frames that form the image sequence; setting, based on the firstsyntax, the maximum size of the buffer to decode the image sequence bythe decoder; obtaining encoded data, in which the image frames areencoded, from the bitstream, and obtaining decoded image frames bydecoding the obtained encoded data; storing the decoded image frames inthe buffer of the decoder; and determining, based on the second syntaxand the third syntax, whether to output an image frame stored in thebuffer of the decoder, wherein the first syntax, the second syntax, andthe third syntax are included in a mandatory sequence parameter set thatis a set of information related to encoding of the image sequence.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided anapparatus for decoding an image, the apparatus including: an image dataand encoding information extractor configured to obtain, from abitstream, a first syntax indicating a maximum size of a buffer todecode each of image frames that form an image sequence, a second syntaxindicating a number of image frames displayed after a post-decoded imageframe and to be reordered, a third syntax indicating latency informationof an image frame having a largest difference between a decoding orderand a display order from among the image frames that form the imagesequence, and encoded data in which the image frames are encoded; adecoder configured to obtain decoded image frames by decoding theobtained encoded data; and a buffer configured to store the decodedimage frames, wherein the buffer sets the maximum size of the buffer todecode the image sequence by using the first syntax, and determineswhether to output a stored image frame by using the second syntax andthe third syntax, and wherein the first syntax, the second syntax, andthe third syntax are included in a mandatory sequence parameter set thatis a set of information related to encoding of the image sequence.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video encoding apparatus according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a video decoding apparatus according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a concept of coding units according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an image encoder based on coding units,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image decoder based on coding units,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating coding units corresponding to depths,and partitions, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a coding unitand transformation units, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating encoding information corresponding todepths, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating coding units corresponding to depths,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 10, 11, and 12 are diagrams illustrating a relationship betweencoding units, prediction units, and transformation units, according toan exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a coding unit,a prediction unit, and a transformation unit, according to encoding modeinformation of Table 1;

FIG. 14 is a diagram of an image encoding process and an image decodingprocess, which are hierarchically classified, according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram of a structure of a network abstraction layer (NAL)unit, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 16A and 16B are reference diagrams for describing maximum sizeinformation of a decoded picture buffer (DPB) required according to adecoding order during an encoding process of an image sequence;

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a process of outputting a decodedpicture from a DPB according to a bumping process in a video codec fieldrelated to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a diagram for describing a process of outputting a decodedpicture from a DPB by using a MaxLatencyFrames syntax, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 19A through 19D are diagrams for describing a MaxLatencyFramessyntax and a num_reorder_frames syntax, according to exemplaryembodiments;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an image encoding method accordingto an exemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating an image decoding method accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail withreference to accompanying drawings. While describing exemplaryembodiments, an image may be a still image or a moving image, and may bedenoted as a video. Also, while describing exemplary embodiments, animage frame may be denoted as a picture.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video encoding apparatus 100 according toan exemplary embodiment.

The video encoding apparatus 100 includes a maximum coding unit splitter110, a coding unit determiner 120, and an output unit 130 (e.g.,outputter).

The maximum coding unit splitter 110 may split a current picture of animage based on a maximum coding unit for the current picture. If thecurrent picture is larger than the maximum coding unit, image data ofthe current picture may be split into at least one maximum coding unit.The maximum coding unit according to an exemplary embodiment may be adata unit having a size of 32×32, 64×64, 128×128, 256×256, etc., whereina shape of the data unit is a square having a width and length insquares of 2 that are higher than 8. The image data may be output to thecoding unit determiner 120 according to the at least one maximum codingunit.

A coding unit according to an exemplary embodiment may be characterizedby a maximum size and a depth. The depth denotes a number of times thecoding unit is spatially split from the maximum coding unit, and as thedepth deepens, coding units corresponding to depths may be split fromthe maximum coding unit to a minimum coding unit. A depth of the maximumcoding unit may be determined as an uppermost depth, and the minimumcoding unit may be determined as a lowermost coding unit. Since a sizeof a coding unit corresponding to each depth decreases as the depth ofthe maximum coding unit deepens, a coding unit corresponding to an upperdepth may include a plurality of coding units corresponding to lowerdepths.

As described above, the image data of the current picture is split intothe maximum coding units according to a maximum size of the coding unit,and each of the maximum coding units may include coding units that aresplit according to depths. Since the maximum coding unit according to anexemplary embodiment is split according to depths, the image data of aspatial domain included in the maximum coding unit may be hierarchicallyclassified according to the depths.

A maximum depth and a maximum size of a coding unit, which limit thetotal number of times a height and a width of the maximum coding unitare hierarchically split, may be predetermined.

The coding unit determiner 120 encodes at least one split regionobtained by splitting a region of the maximum coding unit according todepths, and determines a depth to output a finally encoded image dataaccording to the at least one split region. In other words, the codingunit determiner 120 determines a coded depth by encoding the image datain the coding units corresponding to depths in units of the maximumcoding units of the current picture, and selecting a depth having theleast encoding error. The determined coded depth and the image data ineach of the maximum coding units are output to the output unit 130.

The image data in each of the maximum coding units is encoded based onthe coding units corresponding to depths, according to at least onedepth equal to or below the maximum depth, and results of encoding theimage data based on the coding units corresponding to depths arecompared. A depth having the least encoding error may be selected aftercomparing encoding errors of the coding units corresponding to depths.At least one coded depth may be selected for each of the maximum codingunits.

The size of the maximum coding unit is split as a coding unit ishierarchically split according to depths, and the number of coding unitsincreases. Also, even if coding units included in one maximum codingunit correspond to the same depth, whether each of the coding units willbe split to a lower depth is determined by measuring an encoding errorof the image data of each of the coding units. Thus, since even dataincluded in one maximum coding unit has a different encoding errorcorresponding to a depth, according to the location of the data, a codeddepth may be differently set according to the location of the data.Accordingly, at least one coded depth may be set for one maximum codingunit, and the image data of the maximum coding unit may be dividedaccording to coding units of the at least one coded depth.

Accordingly, the coding unit determiner 120 according to an exemplaryembodiment may determine coding units having a tree structure includedin a current maximum coding unit. The ‘coding units having a treestructure’ according to an exemplary embodiment include coding unitscorresponding to a depth determined to be the coded depth, from amongall coding units corresponding to depths included in the current maximumcoding unit. Coding units corresponding to a coded depth may behierarchically determined according to depths in the same region of themaximum coding unit, and may be independently determined in differentregions of the maximum coding unit. Similarly, a coded depth in acurrent region may be independently determined from a coded depth inanother region.

A maximum depth according to an exemplary embodiment is an index relatedto the number of splitting times from a maximum coding unit to a minimumcoding unit. A first maximum depth according to an exemplary embodimentmay denote the total number of splitting times from the maximum codingunit to the minimum coding unit. A second maximum depth according to anexemplary embodiment may denote the total number of depth levels fromthe maximum coding unit to the minimum coding unit. For example, when adepth of the maximum coding unit is 0, a depth of a coding unit obtainedby splitting the maximum coding unit once may be set to 1, and a depthof a coding unit obtained by splitting the maximum coding unit twice maybe set to 2. If a coding unit obtained by splitting the maximum codingunit four times is the minimum coding unit, then depth levels of depths0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 exist. Thus, the first maximum depth may be set to 4,and the second maximum depth may be set to 5.

Prediction-encoding and transformation may be performed on the maximumcoding unit. Similarly, prediction-encoding and transformation areperformed in units of maximum coding units, based on coding unitscorresponding to depths and according to depths equal to or less thanthe maximum depth.

Since the number of coding units corresponding to depths increaseswhenever the maximum coding unit is split according to depths, encodingincluding prediction-encoding and transformation should be performed onall of the coding units corresponding to depths generated as a depthdeepens. For convenience of explanation, prediction-encoding andtransformation will now be described based on a coding unit of a currentdepth, included in at least one maximum coding unit.

The video encoding apparatus 100 may variously select a size or shape ofa data unit for encoding image data. In order to encode the image data,operations, such as prediction-encoding, transformation, and entropyencoding, are performed. At this time, the same data unit may be usedfor all of the operations or different data units may be used for eachoperation.

For example, the video encoding apparatus 100 may select not only acoding unit for encoding the image data, but also a data unit differentfrom the coding unit so as to perform prediction-encoding on image datain the coding unit.

In order to prediction-encode the maximum coding unit,prediction-encoding may be performed based on a coding unitcorresponding to a coded depth, i.e., based on a coding unit that is nolonger split to coding units corresponding to a lower depth.Hereinafter, the coding unit that is no longer split and becomes a basisunit for prediction-encoding will now be referred to as a ‘predictionunit’. Partitions obtained by splitting the prediction unit may includea data unit obtained by splitting at least one of a height and a widthof the prediction unit.

For example, when a coding unit of 2N×2N (where N is a positive integer)is no longer split, this coding unit becomes a prediction unit of 2N×2N,and a size of a partition may be 2N×2N, 2N×N, N×2N, or N×N. Examples ofa partition type include symmetrical partitions that are obtained bysymmetrically splitting a height or width of the prediction unit,partitions obtained by asymmetrically splitting the height or width ofthe prediction unit, such as 1:n or n:1, partitions that are obtained bygeometrically splitting the prediction unit, and partitions havingarbitrary shapes.

A prediction mode of the prediction unit may be at least one of an intramode, a inter mode, and a skip mode. For example, the intra mode or theinter mode may be performed on a partition of 2N×2N, 2N×N, N×2N, or N×N.Also, the skip mode may be performed only on a partition of 2N×2N.Encoding may be independently performed on one prediction unit in eachcoding unit, and a prediction mode having a least encoding error may beselected.

Also, the video encoding apparatus 100 may perform transformation on theimage data in a coding unit based not only on the coding unit forencoding the image data, but also based on a data unit that is differentfrom the coding unit.

In order to perform transformation on the coding unit, transformationmay be performed based on a data unit having a size smaller than orequal to that of the coding unit. For example, a data unit fortransformation may include a data unit for the intra mode and a dataunit for the inter mode.

Hereinafter, the data unit that is a basis of transformation may also bereferred to as a transformation unit. Similarly to coding units having atree structure according to an exemplary embodiment, a transformationunit in a coding unit may be recursively split into smaller sizedtransformation units. Thus, residual data in the coding unit may bedivided according to transformation units having a tree structureaccording to transformation depths.

A transformation unit according to an exemplary embodiment may also beassigned a transformation depth denoting a number of times the heightand width of a coding unit are split to obtain the transformation unit.For example, a transformation depth may be 0 when a size of atransformation unit for a 2N×2N current coding unit is 2N×2N, atransformation depth may be 1 when a size of a transformation unit forthe 2N×2N current coding unit is N×N, and a transformation depth may be2 when a size of a transformation unit for the 2N×2N current coding unitis N/2×N/2. That is, transformation units having a tree structure mayalso be set according to transformation depths.

Encoding information for each coded depth requires not only informationabout the coded depth, but also about information related toprediction-encoding and transformation. Accordingly, the coding unitdeterminer 120 may not only determine a coded depth having a leastencoding error, but also determine a partition type in a predictionunit, a prediction mode for each prediction unit, and a size of atransformation unit for transformation.

Coding units having a tree structure included in a maximum coding unitand a method of determining a partition, according to exemplaryembodiments, will be described in detail later with reference to FIGS. 3through 12.

The coding unit determiner 120 may measure encoding errors of codingunits corresponding to depths by using Rate-Distortion Optimizationbased on Lagrangian multipliers.

The output unit 130 outputs the image data of the maximum coding unit,which is encoded based on the at least one coded depth determined by thecoding unit determiner 120, and information about the encoding mode ofeach of depths, in a bitstream.

The encoded image data may be a result of encoding residual data of animage.

The information about the encoding mode of each of depths may includeinformation about the coded depth, about the partition type in theprediction unit, the prediction mode, and the size of the transformationunit.

The information about the coded depth may be defined using splitinformation according to depths, which indicates whether encoding is tobe performed on coding units of a lower depth instead of a currentdepth. If a current depth of a current coding unit is the coded depth,then the current coding unit is encoded using coding units correspondingto the current depth, and split information about the current depth maythus be defined such that the current coding unit of the current depthmay not be split any further into coding units of a lower depth.Reversely, if the current depth of the current coding unit is not thecoded depth, then coding units of a lower depth should be encoded andthe split information about the current depth may thus be defined suchthat the current coding unit of the current depth may be split intocoding units of a lower depth.

If the current depth is not the coded depth, encoding is performed onthe coding units of the lower depth. Since at least one coding unit ofthe lower depth exists in one coding unit of the current depth, encodingis repeatedly performed on each coding unit of the lower depth, andcoding units having the same depth may thus be recursively encoded.

Since coding units having a tree structure should be determined in onemaximum coding unit and information about at least one encoding mode isdetermined for each coding unit of a coded depth, information about atleast one encoding mode may be determined for one maximum coding unit.Also, image data of the maximum coding unit may have a different codeddepth according to the location thereof since the image data ishierarchically split according to depths. Thus, information about acoded depth and an encoding mode may be set for the image data.

Accordingly, the output unit 130 according to an exemplary embodimentmay assign encoding information about a corresponding coded depth and anencoding mode to at least one of coding units, prediction units, and aminimum unit included in the maximum coding unit.

The minimum unit according to an exemplary embodiment is a rectangulardata unit obtained by splitting a minimum coding unit of a lowermostdepth by 4, and may be a maximum rectangular data unit that may beincluded in all of the coding units, prediction units, andtransformation units included in the maximum coding unit.

For example, encoding information output via the output unit 130 may beclassified into encoding information of each of coding unitscorresponding to depths, and encoding information of each of predictionunits. The encoding information of each of coding units corresponding todepths may include prediction mode information and partition sizeinformation. The encoding information of each of prediction units mayinclude information about an estimated direction of an inter mode, abouta reference image index of the inter mode, about a motion vector, abouta chroma component of the intra mode, and about an interpolation methodof an intra mode. Information about a maximum size of coding unitsdefined in units of pictures, slices, or GOPs, and information about amaximum depth may be inserted into a header of a bitstream.

The maximum coding unit splitter 110 and the coding unit determiner 120correspond to a video coding layer that determines a reference frame ofeach of image frames that form an image sequence by performing motionprediction and compensation according to coding units with respect toeach image frame, and encodes each image frame by using the determinedreference frame.

Also, as will be described later, the output unit 130 generates abitstream by mapping a max_dec_frame_buffering syntax indicating amaximum size of a buffer required to decode an image frame by a decoder,a num_reorder_frames syntax indicating the number of image framesrequired to be reordered, and a max_latency_increase syntax indicatinglatency information of an image frame having a largest differencebetween an encoding order and a display order from among the imageframes that form the image sequence in a network abstraction layer (NAL)unit.

In the video encoding apparatus 100 according to an exemplaryembodiment, coding units corresponding to depths may be coding unitsobtained by dividing a height or width of a coding unit of an upperdepth by two. In other words, when the size of a coding unit of acurrent depth is 2N×2N, the size of a coding unit of a lower depth isN×N. Also, the 2N×2N coding unit may include four N×N coding units ofthe lower depth at most.

Accordingly, the video encoding apparatus 100 may form coding unitshaving a tree structure by determining coding units having an optimumshape and size for each maximum coding unit, based on the size of eachmaximum coding unit and a maximum depth determined consideringcharacteristics of a current picture. Also, since each maximum codingunit may be encoded according to any one of various prediction modes andtransformation methods, an optimum encoding mode may be determinedconsidering characteristics of coding units of various image sizes.

Thus, if an image having very high resolution or a very large amount ofdata is encoded in units of conventional macroblocks, a number ofmacroblocks per picture excessively increases. Thus, an amount ofcompressed information generated for each macroblock increases, and thusit is difficult to transmit the compressed information and datacompression efficiency decreases. However, the video encoding apparatus100 is capable of controlling a coding unit based on characteristics ofan image while increasing a maximum size of the coding unit inconsideration of a size of the image, thereby increasing imagecompression efficiency.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a video decoding apparatus 200 according toan exemplary embodiment.

The video decoding apparatus 200 includes a receiver 210, an image dataand encoding information extractor 220, and an image data decoder 230.Definitions of various terms, such as a coding unit, a depth, aprediction unit, a transformation unit, and information about variousencoding modes, which are used below to explain various processes of thevideo decoding apparatus 200, are identical to those of the videoencoding apparatus 100 described above with reference to FIG. 1.

The receiver 210 receives and parses a bitstream of an encoded video.The image data and encoding information extractor 220 extracts encodedimage data for each of coding units having a tree structure in units ofmaximum coding units, from the parsed bitstream, and then outputs theextracted image data to the image data decoder 230. The image data andencoding information extractor 220 may extract information about amaximum size of coding units of a current picture, from a headerregarding the current picture.

Also, the image data and encoding information extractor 220 extractsinformation about a coded depth and an encoding mode for the codingunits having the tree structure in units of the maximum coding unit,from the parsed bitstream. The extracted information about the codeddepth and the encoding mode is output to the image data decoder 230. Inother words, the image data in the bitstream may be split into themaximum coding units so that the image data decoder 230 may decode theimage data in units of the maximum coding units.

The information about the coded depth and the encoding mode for each ofthe maximum coding units may be set for at least one coded depth. Theinformation about the encoding mode for each coded depth may includeinformation about a partition type of a corresponding coding unitcorresponding to the coded depth, about a prediction mode, and a size ofa transformation unit. Also, splitting information according to depthsmay be extracted as the information about the coded depth.

The information about the coded depth and the encoding mode for each ofthe maximum coding units extracted by the image data and encodinginformation extractor 220 is information about a coded depth and anencoding mode determined to generate a minimum encoding error when anencoding side, e.g., the video encoding apparatus 100, repeatedlyencodes each of coding units corresponding to depths in units of maximumcoding units. Accordingly, the video decoding apparatus 200 may restorean image by decoding the image data according to the coded depth and theencoding mode that generates the minimum encoding error.

Since encoding information about the coded depth and the encoding modemay be assigned to data units from among corresponding coding units,prediction units, and a minimum unit, the image data and encodinginformation extractor 220 may extract the information about the codeddepth and the encoding mode in units of the data units. If theinformation about the coded depth and the encoding mode for each of themaximum coding units is recorded in units of the data units, data unitsincluding information about the same coded depth and encoding mode maybe inferred to be data units included in the same maximum coding unit.

The image data decoder 230 restores the current picture by decoding theimage data in each of the maximum coding units, based on the informationabout the coded depth and the encoding mode for each of the maximumcoding units. In other words, the image data decoder 230 may decode theencoded image data based on a parsed partition type, prediction mode,and transformation unit for each of the coding units having the treestructure included in each of the maximum coding units. A decodingprocess may include a prediction process including intra prediction andmotion compensation, and an inverse transformation process.

The image data decoder 230 may perform intra prediction or motioncompensation on each of the coding units according to partitions and aprediction mode thereof, based on the information about the partitiontype and the prediction mode of prediction units of each of coding unitsaccording to coded depths.

Also, in order to perform inverse transformation on each of the maximumcoding units, the image data decoder 230 performs inverse transformationaccording to the transformation units of each of the coding units, basedon size information of the transformation units of the deeper codingunit.

The image data decoder 230 may determine a coded depth of a currentmaximum coding unit, based on split information according to depths. Ifthe split information indicates that image data is no longer split inthe current depth, the current depth is a coded depth. Thus, the imagedata decoder 230 may decode image data of a current maximum coding unitby using the information about the partition type of the predictionunit, the prediction mode, and the size of the transformation unit of acoding unit corresponding to a current depth.

In other words, data units containing encoding information including thesame split information may be gathered by observing encoding informationassigned to a data unit from among the coding unit, the prediction unit,and the minimum unit, and the gathered data units may be considered asone data unit to be decoded according to the same encoding mode by theimage data decoder 230.

Also, the receiver 210 and the image data and encoding informationextractor 220 may perform a decoding process in an NAL, wherein amax_dec_frame_buffering syntax indicating a maximum size of a bufferrequired to decode an image frame by a decoder, a num_reorder_framessyntax indicating the number of image frames required to be reordered,and a max_latency_increase syntax indicating latency information of animage frame having a largest difference between a decoding order and adisplay order from among image frames that form an image sequence areobtained from a bitstream and output to the image data decoder 230.

The video decoding apparatus 200 may obtain information about a codingunit that generates a least encoding error by recursively encoding eachof the maximum coding units, and may use the information to decode thecurrent picture. In other words, the encoded image data in the codingunits having the tree structure determined to be optimum coding units inunits of the maximum coding units may be decoded.

Accordingly, even if image data has high resolution and a very largeamount of data, the image data may be efficiently decoded to be restoredby using a size of a coding unit and an encoding mode, which areadaptively determined according to characteristics of the image data,based on information about an optimum encoding mode received from anencoding side.

Hereinafter, methods of determining coding units according to a treestructure, a prediction unit, and a transformation unit, according toexemplary embodiments, will be described with reference to FIGS. 3through 13.

FIG. 3 illustrates a concept of coding units according to an exemplaryembodiment.

A size of a coding unit may be expressed in width×height, and may be64×64, 32×32, 16×16, and 8×8. A coding unit of 64×64 may be split intopartitions of 64×64, 64×32, 32×64, or 32×32, and a coding unit of 32×32may be split into partitions of 32×32, 32×16, 16×32, or 16×16, a codingunit of 16×16 may be split into partitions of 16×16, 16×8, 8×16, or 8×8,and a coding unit of 8×8 may be split into partitions of 8×8, 8×4, 4×8,or 4×4.

In video data 310, a resolution is 1920×1080, a maximum size of a codingunit is 64, and a maximum depth is 2. In video data 320, a resolution is1920×1080, a maximum size of a coding unit is 64, and a maximum depth is3. In video data 330, a resolution is 352×288, a maximum size of acoding unit is 16, and a maximum depth is 1. The maximum depth shown inFIG. 3 denotes a total number of splits from a maximum coding unit to aminimum decoding unit.

If a resolution is high or an amount of data is large, a maximum size ofa coding unit may be relatively large so as to not only increaseencoding efficiency but also to accurately reflect characteristics of animage. Accordingly, the maximum size of the coding unit of the videodata 310 and 320 having the higher resolution than the video data 330may be 64.

Since the maximum depth of the video data 310 is 2, coding units 315 ofthe video data 310 may include a maximum coding unit having a long axissize of 64, and coding units having long axis sizes of 32 and 16 sincedepths are deepened to two layers by splitting the maximum coding unittwice. Meanwhile, since the maximum depth of the video data 330 is 1,coding units 335 of the video data 330 may include a maximum coding unithaving a long axis size of 16, and coding units having a long axis sizeof 8 since depths are deepened to one layer by splitting the maximumcoding unit once.

Since the maximum depth of the video data 320 is 3, coding units 325 ofthe video data 320 may include a maximum coding unit having a long axissize of 64, and coding units having long axis sizes of 32, 16, and 8since the depths are deepened to 3 layers by splitting the maximumcoding unit three times. As a depth deepens, detailed information may beprecisely expressed.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an image encoder 400 based on coding units,according to an exemplary embodiment.

The image encoder 400 performs operations of the coding unit determiner120 of the video encoding apparatus 100 to encode image data.Specifically, an intra predictor 410 performs intra prediction on codingunits in an intra mode from among a current frame 405, and a motionestimator 420 and a motion compensator 425 perform inter estimation andmotion compensation on coding units in an inter mode from among thecurrent frame 405 by using the current frame 405 and a reference frame495.

Data output from the intra predictor 410, the motion estimator 420, andthe motion compensator 425 is output as a quantized transformationcoefficient through a transformer 430 and a quantizer 440. The quantizedtransformation coefficient is restored as data in a spatial domainthrough an inverse quantizer 460 and an inverse transformer 470. Therestored data in the spatial domain is output as the reference frame 495after being post-processed through a deblocking unit 480 and a loopfiltering unit 490. The quantized transformation coefficient may beoutput in a bitstream 455 through an entropy encoder 450. Specifically,the entropy encoder 450 may generate a bitstream by mapping amax_dec_frame_buffering syntax indicating a maximum size of a bufferrequired to decode an image frame by a decoder, a num_reorder_framessyntax indicating the number of image frames required to be reordered,and a MaxLatencyFrames syntax indicating a maximum number of adifference value between an encoding order and a display order of imageframes that form an image sequence or a max_latency_increase syntax fordetermining the MaxLatencyFrames syntax in an NAL unit. Specifically,the entropy encoder 450 may add the max_dec_frame_buffering syntax, thenum_reorder_frames syntax, and the max_latency_increase syntax to asequence parameter set (SPS) that is header information includinginformation related to encoding of an overall image sequence, asmandatory components.

In order to apply the image encoder 400 to the video encoding apparatus100, all elements of the image encoder 400, i.e., the intra predictor410, the motion estimator 420, the motion compensator 425, thetransformer 430, the quantizer 440, the entropy encoder 450, the inversequantizer 460, the inverse transformer 470, the deblocking unit 480, andthe loop filtering unit 490 perform operations based on each coding unitfrom among coding units having a tree structure while considering themaximum depth of each maximum coding unit.

Particularly, the intra predictor 410, the motion estimator 420, and themotion compensator 425 determine partitions and a prediction mode ofeach coding unit from among the coding units having the tree structurewhile considering the maximum size and the maximum depth of a currentmaximum coding unit. The transformer 430 determines the size of thetransformation unit in each coding unit from among the coding unitshaving the tree structure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image decoder 500 based on coding units,according to an exemplary embodiment.

A parser 510 parses a bitstream 505 to obtain encoded image data to bedecoded and encoding information required to decode the encoded imagedata. Specifically, the parser 510 obtains and outputs amax_dec_frame_buffering syntax indicating a maximum size of a bufferrequired to decode an image frame included as a mandatory component inan SPS, a num_reorder_frames syntax indicating the number of imageframes required to be reordered, and a max_latency_increase syntax fordetermining a MaxLatencyFrames syntax from a bitstream to an entropydecoder 520. In FIG. 5, the parser 510 and the entropy decoder 520 areillustrated to be individual components, but alternatively, processes ofobtaining image data and obtaining syntax information related to encodedimage data, which are performed by the parser 510, may be performed bythe entropy decoder 520.

The encoded image data is output as inversely quantized data through theentropy decoder 520 and an inverse quantizer 530, and the inversequantized data is restored to image data in a spatial domain through aninverse transformer 540.

With respect to the image data in the spatial domain, an intra predictor550 performs intra prediction on coding units in an intra mode, and amotion compensator 560 performs motion compensation on coding units inan inter mode by using a reference frame 585.

Image frame data restored through the intra predictor 550 and the motioncompensator 560 is post-processed through a deblocking unit 570 andoutput to a decoded picture buffer (DPB) 580. The DPB 580 stores adecoded image frame for storing of a reference frame, switching of adisplay order of an image frame, and outputting of an image frame. TheDPB 580 stores the decoded image frame while setting a maximum size of abuffer required for normal decoding of an image sequence by using amax_dec_frame_buffering syntax indicating a maximum size of a bufferrequired to normally decode an image frame output from the parser 510 orthe entropy decoder 520.

Also, the DPB 580 may determine whether to output a reference imageframe pre-decoded and stored, by using a num_reorder_frames syntaxindicating the number of image frames required to be reordered and amax_latency_increase syntax for determining a MaxLatencyFrames syntax. Aprocess of outputting a reference image frame stored in the DPB 580 willbe described in detail later.

In order to decode the image data by using the image data decoder 230 ofthe video decoding apparatus 200, the image decoder 500 may performoperations that are performed after an operation of the parser 510.

In order to apply the image decoder 500 to the video decoding apparatus200, all elements of the image decoder 500, i.e., the parser 510, theentropy decoder 520, the inverse quantizer 530, the inverse transformer540, the intra predictor 550, the motion compensator 560, and thedeblocking unit 570 may perform decoding operations based on codingunits having a tree structure, in units of maximum coding units.Particularly, the intra prediction 550 and the motion compensator 560determine partitions and a prediction mode for each of the coding unitshaving the tree structure, and the inverse transformer 540 determines asize of a transformation unit for each of the coding units.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating coding units corresponding to depths,and partitions, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The video encoding apparatus 100 and the video decoding apparatus 200according to an exemplary embodiment use hierarchical coding units toconsider characteristics of an image. A maximum height, a maximum width,and a maximum depth of a coding unit may be adaptively determinedaccording to the characteristics of the image, or may be differently setby a user. Sizes of coding units corresponding to depths may bedetermined according to the predetermined maximum size of the codingunit.

In a hierarchical structure 600 of coding units according to anexemplary embodiment, the maximum height and the maximum width of thecoding units are each 64, and the maximum depth is 4. Since a depthdeepens along a vertical axis of the hierarchical structure 600, aheight and width of each of coding units corresponding to depths areeach split. Also, a prediction unit and partitions, which are bases forprediction-encoding each of the coding units corresponding to depths,are shown along a horizontal axis of the hierarchical structure 600.

Specifically, in the hierarchical structure 600, a coding unit 610 is amaximum coding unit, and has a depth of 0 and a size of 64×64(height×width). As the depth deepens along the vertical axis, a codingunit 620 having a size of 32×32 and a depth of 1, a coding unit 630having a size of 16×16 and a depth of 2, a coding unit 640 having a sizeof 8×8 and a depth of 3, and a coding unit 650 having a size of 4×4 anda depth of 4 exist. The coding unit 650 having the size of 4×4 and thedepth of 4 is a minimum coding unit.

A prediction unit and partitions of each coding unit are arranged alongthe horizontal axis according to each depth. If the coding unit 610having the size of 64×64 and the depth of 0 is a prediction unit, theprediction unit may be split into partitions included in the coding unit610, i.e., a partition 610 having a size of 64×64, partitions 612 havinga size of 64×32, partitions 614 having a size of 32×64, or partitions616 having a size of 32×32.

Similarly, a prediction unit of the coding unit 620 having the size of32×32 and the depth of 1 may be split into partitions included in thecoding unit 620, i.e., a partition 620 having a size of 32×32,partitions 622 having a size of 32×16, partitions 624 having a size of16×32, and partitions 626 having a size of 16×16.

Similarly, a prediction unit of the coding unit 630 having the size of16×16 and the depth of 2 may be split into partitions included in thecoding unit 630, i.e., a partition 630 having a size of 16×16,partitions 632 having a size of 16×8, partitions 634 having a size of8×16, and partitions 636 having a size of 8×8.

Similarly, a prediction unit of the coding unit 640 having the size of8×8 and the depth of 3 may be split into partitions included in thecoding unit 640, i.e., a partition 640 having a size of 8×8, partitions642 having a size of 8×4, partitions 644 having a size of 4×8, andpartitions 646 having a size of 4×4.

The coding unit 650 having the size of 4×4 and the depth of 4 is theminimum coding unit having a lowermost depth. A prediction unit of thecoding unit 650 is set to only a partition 650 having a size of 4×4.

In order to determine a coded depth of the maximum coding unit 610, thecoding unit determiner 120 of the video encoding apparatus 100 encodesall coding units corresponding to each depth, included in the maximumcoding unit 610.

As the depth deepens, a number of coding units, which correspond to eachdepth and include data having the same range and the same size,increases. For example, four coding units corresponding to a depth of 2are required to cover data included in one coding unit corresponding toa depth of 1. Accordingly, in order to compare results of encoding thesame data according to depths, the coding unit corresponding to thedepth of 1 and the four coding units corresponding to the depth of 2 areeach encoded.

In order to perform encoding in units of depths, a least encoding errorof each of the depths may be selected as a representative encoding errorby encoding prediction units in each of the coding units correspondingto the depths, along the horizontal axis of the hierarchical structure600. Alternatively, a least encoding error may be searched for byperforming encoding in units of depths and comparing least encodingerrors according to the depths, as the depth deepens along the verticalaxis of the hierarchical structure 600. A depth and a partition havingthe least encoding error in the maximum coding unit 610 may be selectedas a coded depth and a partition type of the maximum coding unit 610.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a coding unit710 and transformation units 720, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The video encoding apparatus 100 (or the video decoding apparatus 200)according to an exemplary embodiment encodes (or decodes) an image inunits of maximum coding units, based on coding units having sizessmaller than or equal to the maximum coding units. During the encoding,a size of each transformation unit used to perform transformation may beselected based on a data unit that is not larger than a correspondingcoding unit.

For example, in the video encoding apparatus 100 (or the video decodingapparatus 200), if a size of the coding unit 710 is 64×64,transformation may be performed using the transformation units 720having a size of 32×32.

Also, data of the coding unit 710 having the size of 64×64 may beencoded by performing transformation on each of transformation unitshaving a size of 32×32, 16×16, 8×8, and 4×4, which are smaller than64×64, and then a transformation unit having a least coding error may beselected.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating encoding information corresponding todepths, according to an exemplary embodiment.

The output unit 130 of the video encoding apparatus 100 may encode andtransmit information 800 about a partition type, information 810 about aprediction mode, and information 820 about transformation unit size foreach coding unit corresponding to a coded depth, as information about anencoding mode.

The information 800 indicates information about a shape of a partitionobtained by splitting a prediction unit of a current coding unit, as adata unit for prediction-encoding the current coding unit. For example,a current coding unit CU_0 having a size of 2N×2N may be split into anyone of a partition 802 having a size of 2N×2N, a partition 804 having asize of 2N×N, a partition 806 having a size of N×2N, and a partition 808having a size of N×N. In this case, the information 800 is set toindicate one of the partition 804 having a size of 2N×N, the partition806 having a size of N×2N, and the partition 808 having a size of N×N

The information 810 indicates a prediction mode of each partition. Forexample, the information 810 may indicate a mode of prediction-encodingthe partition indicated by the information 800, i.e., an intra mode 812,an inter mode 814, or a skip mode 816.

The information 820 indicates a transformation unit to be based on whentransformation is performed on a current coding unit. For example, thetransformation unit may be a first intra transformation unit 822, asecond intra transformation unit 824, a first inter transformation unit826, or a second intra transformation unit 828.

The image data and encoding information extractor 220 of the videodecoding apparatus 200 may extract and use the information 800, 810, and820 for decoding coding units corresponding to depths.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating coding units corresponding to depths,according to an exemplary embodiment.

Split information may be used to indicate a depth change. The splitinformation indicates whether a coding unit of a current depth is splitinto coding units of a lower depth.

A prediction unit 910 for prediction-encoding a coding unit 900 having adepth of 0 and a size of 2N_0×2N_0 may include partitions of a partitiontype 912 having a size of 2N_0×2N_0, a partition type 914 having a sizeof 2N_0×N_0, a partition type 916 having a size of N_0×2N_0, and apartition type 918 having a size of N_0×N_0. Although FIG. 9 illustratesonly the partition types 912 through 918 which are obtained bysymmetrically splitting the prediction unit 910, a partition type is notlimited thereto, and the partitions of the prediction unit 910 mayinclude asymmetrical partitions, partitions having an arbitrary shape,and partitions having a geometrical shape.

Prediction-encoding is repeatedly performed on one partition having asize of 2N_0×2N_0, two partitions having a size of 2N_0×N_0, twopartitions having a size of N_0×2N_0, and four partitions having a sizeof N_0×N_0, according to each partition type. Prediction-encoding may beperformed on the partitions having the sizes of 2N_0×2N_0, N_0×2N_0,2N_0×N_0, and N_0×N_0, according to an intra mode and an inter mode.Prediction-encoding is performed only on the partition having the sizeof 2N_0×2N_0, according to a skip mode.

If an encoding error is smallest in one of the partition types 912through 916, the prediction unit 910 may not be split into a lowerdepth.

If an encoding error is the smallest in the partition type 918, a depthis changed from 0 to 1 to split the partition type 918 in operation 920,and encoding is repeatedly performed on coding units 930 havingpartitions of a depth of 2 and a size of N_0×N_0 to search for a minimumencoding error.

A prediction unit 940 for prediction-encoding the coding unit 930 havinga depth of 1 and a size of 2N_1×2N_1 (=N_0×N_0) may include partitionsof a partition type 942 having a size of 2N_1×2N_1, a partition type 944having a size of 2N_1×N_1, a partition type 946 having a size ofN_1×2N_1, and a partition type 948 having a size of N_1×N_1.

If an encoding error is the smallest in the partition type 948 having asize of N_1×N_1, a depth is changed from 1 to 2 to split the partitiontype 948 in operation 950, and encoding is repeatedly performed oncoding units 960 having a depth of 2 and a size of N_2×N_2 so as tosearch for a minimum encoding error.

When a maximum depth is d, coding units corresponding to depths may beset up to when a depth becomes d−1, and split information may be set upto when a depth is d−2. In other words, when encoding is performed up towhen the depth is d−1 after a coding unit corresponding to a depth ofd−2 is split in operation 970, a prediction unit 990 forprediction-encoding a coding unit 980 having a depth of d−1 and a sizeof 2N_(d−1)×2N_(d−1) may include partitions of a partition type 992having a size of 2N_(d−1)×2N_(d−1), a partition type 994 having a sizeof 2N_(d−1)×N_(d−1), a partition type 996 having a size ofN_(d−1)×2N_(d−1), and a partition type 998 having a size ofN_(d−1)×N_(d−1).

Prediction-encoding may be repeatedly performed on one partition havinga size of 2N_(d−1)×2N_(d−1), two partitions having a size of2N_(d−1)×N_(d−1), two partitions having a size of N_(d−1)×2N_(d−1), andfour partitions having a size of N_(d−1)×N_(d−1) from among thepartition types 992 through 998 so as to search for a partition typehaving a minimum encoding error.

Even when the partition type 998 has the minimum encoding error, since amaximum depth is d, a coding unit CU (d−1) having a depth of d−1 is nolonger split to a lower depth, and a coded depth for a current maximumcoding unit 900 is determined to be d−1 and a partition type of thecoding unit 900 may be determined to be N_(d−1)×N_(d−1). Also, since themaximum depth is d, split information is not set for a coding unit 952having a depth of (d−1).

A data unit 999 may be a ‘minimum unit’ for the current maximum codingunit 900. A minimum unit according to an exemplary embodiment may be arectangular data unit obtained by splitting a minimum unit having alowest coded depth by 4. By performing encoding repeatedly as describedabove, the video encoding apparatus 100 may determine a coded depth bycomparing encoding errors according to depths of the coding unit 900 andselecting a depth having the least encoding error, and set a partitiontype and a prediction mode for the coding unit 900 as an encoding modeof the coded depth.

As such, minimum encoding errors according to depths, i.e., the depthsof 0, 1, . . . , d−1, and d, are compared with one another, and a depthhaving the least encoding error may be determined as a coded depth. Thecoded depth, the partition type of the prediction unit, and theprediction mode may be encoded and transmitted as information about anencoding mode. Also, since a coding unit is split from the depth of 0 tothe coded depth, only split information of the coded depth is set to 0,and split information of the other depths excluding the coded depth isset to 1.

The image data and encoding information extractor 220 of the videodecoding apparatus 200 may extract and use the information about thecoded depth and the prediction unit of the coding unit 900 to decode thepartition 912. The video decoding apparatus 200 may determine a depthcorresponding to split information ‘0’, as a coded depth, based on splitinformation according to depths, and may use information about anencoding mode of the coded depth during a decoding process.

FIGS. 10, 11, and 12 are diagrams illustrating a relationship betweencoding units 1010, prediction units 1060, and transformation units 1070,according to an exemplary embodiment.

The coding units 1010 are coding units corresponding to coded depths fora maximum coding unit, determined by the video encoding apparatus 100.The prediction units 1060 are partitions of prediction units of therespective coding units 1010, and the transformation units 1070 aretransformation units of the respective coding units 1010.

Among the coding units 1010, if a depth of a maximum coding unit is 0,then coding units 1012 and 1054 have a depth of 1, coding units 1014,1016, 1018, 1028, 1050, and 1052 have a depth of 2, coding units 1020,1022, 1024, 1026, 1030, 1032, and 1048 have a depth of 3, and codingunits 1040, 1042, 1044, and 1046 have a depth of 4.

Among the prediction units 1060, some partitions 1014, 1016, 1022, 1032,1048, 1050, 1052, and 1054 are split into partitions split from codingunits. In other words, the partitions 1014, 1022, 1050, and 1054 are2N×N partition types, partitions 1016, 1048, and 1052 are N×2N partitiontypes, and the partition 1032 is a N×N partition type. Prediction unitsand partitions of the coding units 1010 are smaller than or equal tocoding units corresponding thereto.

Among the transformation units 1070, transformation or inversetransformation is performed on image data corresponding to coding unit1052, based on a data unit that is smaller than the coding unit 1052.Also, transformation units 1014, 1016, 1022, 1032, 1048, 1050, 1052, and1054 are data units different from corresponding prediction units andpartitions among the prediction units 1060, in terms of sizes andshapes. In other words, the video encoding apparatus 100 and the videodecoding apparatus 200 according to an exemplary embodiment mayindividually perform intra prediction, motion estimation, motioncompensation, transformation, and inverse transformation on the samecoding unit, based on different data units

Accordingly, an optimum coding unit may be determined by recursivelyencoding coding units having a hierarchical structure, in units ofregions of each maximum coding unit, thereby obtaining coding unitshaving a recursive tree structure. Encoding information may includesplit information about a coding unit, information about a partitiontype, information about a prediction mode, and information about a sizeof a transformation unit. Table 1 shows an example of encodinginformation that may be set by the video encoding apparatus 100 and thevideo decoding apparatus 200.

TABLE 1 Split Split Information 0 Information (Encoding on Coding Unithaving Size of 2N × 2N and Current Depth of d) 1 Repeatedly Encode Sizeof Transformation Unit Coding Split Split Units Partition TypeInformation Information having Symmetrical Asymmetrical 0 of 1 of LowerPrediction Partition Partition Transformation Transformation Depth ofMode Type Type Unit Unit d + 1 Intra 2N × 2N 2N × nU 2N × 2N N × N Inter2N × N 2N × nD (Symmetrical Skip N × 2N nL × 2N Type) (Only N × N nR ×2N N/2 × N/2 2N × 2N) (Asymmetrical Type)

The output unit 130 of the video encoding apparatus 100 may output theencoding information about the coding units having a tree structure, andthe image data and encoding information extractor 220 of the videodecoding apparatus 200 may extract the encoding information about thecoding units having a tree structure from a received bitstream.

Split information indicates whether a current coding unit is split intocoding units of a lower depth. If split information of a current depth dis 0, a depth, in which the current coding unit is no longer split intocoding units of a lower depth, is a coded depth, and thus informationabout a partition type, a prediction mode, and a size of atransformation unit may be defined for the coded depth. If the currentcoding unit is further split according to the split information,encoding is independently performed on four split coding units of alower depth.

The prediction mode may be one of an intra mode, an inter mode, and askip mode. The intra mode and the inter mode may be defined for allpartition types, and the skip mode is defined only for a 2N×2N partitiontype.

The information about the partition type may indicate symmetricalpartition types having sizes of 2N×2N, 2N×N, N×2N, and N×N, which areobtained by symmetrically splitting a height or a width of a predictionunit, and asymmetrical partition types having sizes of 2N×nU, 2N×nD,nL×2N, and nR×2N, which are obtained by asymmetrically splitting theheight or width of the prediction unit. The asymmetrical partition typeshaving the sizes of 2N×nU and 2N×nD may be respectively obtained bysplitting the height of the prediction unit in 1:3 and 3:1, and theasymmetrical partition types having the sizes of nL×2N and nR×2N may berespectively obtained by splitting the width of the prediction unit in1:3 and 3:1.

The size of the transformation unit may be set to be two types in theintra mode and two types in the inter mode. In other words, if splitinformation of the transformation unit is 0, the size of thetransformation unit may be 2N×2N to be equal to the size of the currentcoding unit. If the split information of the transformation unit is 1,transformation units may be obtained by splitting the current codingunit. Also, a size of a transformation unit may be N×N when a partitiontype of the current coding unit having the size of 2N×2N is asymmetrical partition type, and may be N/2×N/2 when the partition typeof the current coding unit is an asymmetrical partition type.

The encoding information about coding units having a tree structure maybe assigned to at least one of a coding unit corresponding to a codeddepth, a prediction unit, and a minimum unit. The coding unitcorresponding to the coded depth may include at least one predictionunit and at least one minimum unit that contain the same encodinginformation.

Accordingly, whether adjacent data units are included in coding unitscorresponding to the same coded depth may be determined by comparingencoding information of the adjacent data units. Also, a coding unitcorresponding to a coded depth may be determined using encodinginformation of a data unit. Thus, a distribution of coded depths in amaximum coding unit may be determined.

Accordingly, if the current coding unit is predicted based on encodinginformation of adjacent data units, encoding information of data unitsin coding units corresponding to depths adjacent to the current codingunit may be directly referred to and used.

Alternatively, if the current coding unit is predicted based on adjacentcoding units, then adjacent coding units may be referred to by searchingdata units adjacent to the current coding unit from among coding unitscorresponding to depths, based on encoding information of adjacentcoding units corresponding to depths.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a coding unit,a prediction unit, and a transformation unit, according to encoding modeinformation of Table 1.

A maximum coding unit 1300 includes coding units 1302, 1304, 1306, 1312,1314, 1316, and 1318 of coded depths. Here, since the coding unit 1318is a coding unit of a coded depth, split information thereof may be setto 0. Information about a partition type of the coding unit 1318 havinga size of 2N×2N may be set to be one of a partition type 1322 having asize of 2N×2N, a partition type 1324 having a size of 2N×N, a partitiontype 1326 having a size of N×2N, a partition type 1328 having a size ofN×N, a partition type 1332 having a size of 2N×nU, a partition type 1334having a size of 2N×nD, a partition type 1336 having a size of nL×2N,and a partition type 1338 having a size of nR×2N.

For example, if the partition type is set to be a symmetrical partitiontype, e.g., the partition type 1322, 1324, 1326, or 1328, then atransformation unit 1342 having a size of 2N×2N is set whentransformation unit split information (TU size flag) is ‘0’, and atransformation unit 1344 having a size of N×N is set when the TU sizeflag is ‘1’.

If the partition type is set to be an asymmetrical partition type, e.g.,the partition type 1332, 1334, 1336, or 1338, then a transformation unit1352 having a size of 2N×2N is set when a TU size flag is 0, and atransformation unit 1354 having a size of N/2×N/2 is set when a TU sizeflag is 1.

FIG. 14 is a diagram of an image encoding process and an image decodingprocess, which are hierarchically classified, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

Encoding processes performed by the video encoding apparatus 100 of FIG.1 or the image encoder 400 of FIG. 4 may be classified into an encodingprocess performed in a video coding layer (VCL) 1410 that handles animage encoding process itself, and an encoding process performed in anNAL 1420 generating image data and additional information encodedbetween the VCL 1410 and a lower system 1430 that transmits and storesencoded image data, as a bitstream according to a predetermined formatas shown in FIG. 14. Encoded data 1411 that is an output of encodingprocesses of the maximum coding unit splitter 110 and the coding unitdeterminer 120 of the video encoding apparatus 100 of FIG. 1 is VCLdata, and the encoded data 1411 is mapped to a VCL NAL unit 1421 throughthe output unit 130. Also, information directly related to the encodingprocess of the VCL 1410, such as split information, partition typeinformation, prediction mode information, and transformation unit sizeinformation about a coding unit used to generate the encoded data 1411by the VCL 1410, is also mapped to the VCL NAL unit 1421. Parameter setinformation 1412 related to the encoding process is mapped to a non-VCLNAL unit 1422. In particular, according to an exemplary embodiment, amax_dec_frame_buffering syntax indicating a maximum size of a bufferrequired to decode an image frame by a decoder, a num_reorder_framessyntax indicating the number of image frames required to be reordered,and a max_latency_increase syntax for determining a MaxLatencyFramessyntax are mapped to the non-VCL NAL unit 1422. Both the VCL NAL unit1421 and the non-VCL NAL unit 1422 are NAL units, wherein the VCL NALunit 1421 includes image data that is compressed and encoded, and thenon-VCL NAL unit 1422 includes parameters corresponding to an imagesequence and header information of a frame.

Similarly, decoding processes performed by the video decoding apparatus200 of FIG. 2 or the image decoder 500 of FIG. 5 may be classified intoa decoding process performed in the VCL 1410 handling an image decodingprocess itself, and a decoding process performed in the NAL 1420obtaining encoded image data and additional information from a bitstreamreceived and read between the VCL 1410 and the lower system 1430 thatreceives and reads the encoded image data, as shown in FIG. 14. Thedecoding processes performed in the receiver 210 and the image data andencoding information extractor 220 of the video decoding apparatus 200of FIG. 2 correspond to the decoding processes of the NAL 1420, and thedecoding processes of the image data decoder 230 correspond to thedecoding processes of the VCL 1410. In other words, the receiver 210 andthe image data and encoding information extractor 220 obtain, from abitstream 1431, the VCL NAL unit 1421 including information used togenerate encoded image data and encoded data, such as split information,partition type information, prediction mode information, andtransformation unit size information of a coding unit, and the non-VCLNAL unit 1422 including parameter set information related to theencoding process. In particular, according to an exemplary embodiment, amax_dec_frame_buffering syntax indicating a maximum size of a bufferrequired to decode an image frame by a decoder, a num_reorder_framessyntax indicating the number of image frames required to be reordered,and a max_latency_increase syntax for determining a MaxLatencyFramessyntax are included in the non-VCL NAL unit 1422.

FIG. 15 is a diagram of a structure of an NAL unit 1500, according to anexemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 15, the NAL unit 1500 includes an NAL header 1510 anda raw byte sequence payload (RBSP) 1520. An RBSP filler bit 1530 is alength adjusting bit added at the end of the RBSP 1520 to express alength of the RBSP 1520 in a multiple of 8 bits. The RBSP filler bit1530 starts from ‘1’ and includes continuous ‘0’s determined accordingto the length of the RBSP 1520 to have a pattern like ‘100 . . . ’. Bysearching for ‘1’ that is an initial bit value, a location of the lastbit of the RBSP 1520 may be determined.

The NAL header 1510 includes flag information (nal_ref_idc) 1512indicating whether a slice constituting a reference picture of acorresponding NAL unit is included, and an identifier (nal_unit_type)1513 indicating that a type of NAL unit. ‘1’ 1511 at the beginning ofthe NAL header 1510 is a fixed bit.

The NAL unit 1500 may be classified into an instantaneous decodingrefresh (IDR) picture, a clean random access (CRA) picture, an SPS, apicture parameter set (PPS), supplemental enhancement information (SEI),and an adaption parameter set (APS) according to a value of thenal_unit_type 1513. Table 2 shows a type of the NAL unit 1500 accordingto values of the nal_unit_type 1513.

TABLE 2 nal_unit_type Type of NAL unit 0 Unspecified 1 Picture excludingCRA and picture slice excluding IDR 2-3 Reserved for future expansion 4Slice of CRA picture 5 Slice of IDR picture 6 SEI 7 SPS 8 PPS 9 Accessunit (AU) delimiter 10-11 Reserved for future expansion 12 Filler data13 Reserved for future expansion 14 APS 15-23 Reserved for futureexpansion 24-64 Unspecified

As described above, according to an exemplary embodiment, themax_dec_frame_buffering syntax, the num_reorder_frames syntax, and themax_latency_increase syntax are included in the NAL unit, specificallythe SPS corresponding to the header information of the image sequence,as mandatory components.

Hereinafter, processes of determining the max_dec_frame_bufferingsyntax, the num_reorder_frames syntax, and the max_latency_increasesyntax, which are included as the mandatory components of the SPS,during the encoding process, will be described in detail.

An image frame decoded in a VCL is stored in the DPB 580 that is animage buffer memory of the image decoder 500. The DPB 580 marks eachstored picture as a short-term reference picture that is referred to fora short term, a long-term reference picture that is referred to for along term, or a non-reference picture that is not referred to. A decodedpicture is stored in the DPB 580, is reordered according to an outputorder, and is output from the DPB 580 at an output timing or at anassigned time when the decoded picture is not referred to by anotherimage frame.

In a general codec, such as H.264 AVC codec, a maximum size of a DBPrequired to restore an image frame is defined by a profile and a level,or through video usability information (VUI) that is selectivelytransmitted. For example, the maximum size of DPB defined by H.264 AVCcodec is defined as Table 3 below.

TABLE 3 WQVGA WVGA HD 720p HD 10809 Resolution 400 × 240 800 × 480 1280× 720 1920 × 1080 Minimum level 1.3 3.1 3.1 4 MaxDPB 891.0 6750.0 6750.012288.0 MaxDpbSize 13 12 5 5

In Table 3, the maximum size of DPB is defined with respect to a 30 Hzimage, and in H.264 AVC codec, the maximum size of DPB is determined byusing the max_dec_frame_buffering syntax selectively transmitted throughVUI, or according to a table pre-determined according to a profile and alevel as shown in Table 3 if the max_dec_frame_buffering syntax is notincluded in the VUI. If a resolution of a decoder is 400×240 (WQVGA) anda frequency of an output image is 30 Hz, a maximum size (MaxDpbSize) ofthe DPB is 13, i.e., the maximum size of the DPB is set to store 13decoded pictures.

In a general video codec, information about a maximum size of a DPB isnot necessarily transmitted, but is selectively transmitted.Accordingly, in the general video codec, information about a maximumsize of a DPB required to decode an image sequence by a decoder cannotbe always used. When such information is not transmitted, the decoderuses a maximum size of a DPB pre-determined according to a profile and alevel, as shown in Table 3 above. However, a size of DPB actuallyrequired during processes of encoding and decoding an image sequence isoften smaller than the maximum size of the DPB of Table 3. Thus, if thepre-determined maximum size, as shown in Table 3, is used, systemresources of the decoder may be wasted. Also, according to the generalvideo codec, since the size of the DPB of the decoder is smaller thanthe pre-determined maximum size of Table 3 but is larger than a sizeactually required to restore an image frame, if information about amaximum size of the DPB required for a decoding process is nottransmitted despite that the decoder is able to decode an imagesequence, the pre-determined maximum size of Table 3 is set as the sizeof the DPB required for the decoding process, and thus the decodingprocess may be unable to be performed. Accordingly, an image encodingmethod and apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment transmit amaximum size of a DPB to a decoding apparatus after including themaximum size as a mandatory component of an SPS, and an image decodingmethod and apparatus may set a maximum size of a DPB by using a maximumsize included in an SPS.

FIGS. 16A and 16B are reference diagrams for describing maximum sizeinformation of a DPB required according to a decoding order during anencoding process of an image sequence.

Referring to FIG. 16A, it is assumed that an encoder performs encodingin an order of I0, P1, P2, P3, and P4, and the encoding is performed byreferring to pictures in directions indicated by arrows. Like such anencoding order, decoding is performed in an order of I0, P1, P2, P3, andP4. In FIG. 16A, since a picture refers to one reference picture that isimmediately pre-decoded, a maximum size of a DPB required to normallydecode an image sequence is 1.

Referring to FIG. 16B, it is assumed that an encoder performs encodingin an order of 10, P2, b1, P4, and b3 by referring to pictures indirections indicated by arrows. Since a decoding order is the same asthe encoding order, decoding is performed in an order of I0, P2, b1, P4,and b3. In an image sequence of FIG. 16B, since a P picture refers to anI picture that is pre-decoded or one reference picture of the P picture,and a b picture refers to the I picture that is pre-decoded or tworeference pictures of the P picture, a maximum size of a DPB required tonormally decode the image sequence is 2. Despite that the maximum sizeof the DPB required to normally decode the image sequence has a smallvalue of 1 or 2 as shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, if information about themaximum size of the DPB is not separately transmitted, the decoder hasto use information about a maximum size of a DPB pre-determinedaccording to profiles and levels of a video codec. If the DPB of thedecoder has a maximum value of 3, i.e., is able to store 3 decoded imageframes maximum, and a maximum size of the DPB is set to be 13 accordingto Table 3 as a value pre-determined according to a profile or a levelof a video codec, despite that the DPB has a sufficient size to decodean encoded image frame, the size of the DPB is smaller than thepre-determined maximum size of the DPB, and thus the decoder may wronglydetermine that the encoded image frame cannot be decoded.

Accordingly, the video encoding apparatus 100 according to an exemplaryembodiment determines a max_dec_frame_buffering syntax indicating amaximum size of a DPB required to decode each image frame by a decoder,based on an encoding order (or a decoding order) of image frames thatform an image sequence and an encoding order (or a decoding order) ofreference frames referred to by the image frames, and inserts andtransmits the max_dec_frame_buffering syntax to and with an SPScorresponding to header information of the image sequence. The videoencoding apparatus 100 includes the max_dec_frame_buffering syntax inthe SPS as mandatory information instead of selective information.

Meanwhile, when a decoded picture is stored in the DPB of the decoder ina general video codec and a new space is required to store the decodedpicture, a reference picture having a lowest display order (pictureorder count) is output from the DPB via bumping so as to obtain an emptyspace for storing a new reference picture. In the general video codec,the decoder is able to display the decoded picture only when the decodedpicture is output from the DPB via such a bumping process. However, whenthe decoded picture is displayed through the bumping process as such,output of a pre-decoded reference picture is delayed until the bumpingprocess.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a process of outputting a decodedpicture from a DPB according to a bumping process in a video codec fieldrelated to an exemplary embodiment. In FIG. 17, it is assumed that amaximum size (MaxDpbSize) of the DPB is 4, i.e., the DPB may store fourdecoded pictures maximum.

Referring to FIG. 17, in a general video codec field, if a P4 framedecoded 4 frames after an I0 picture is to be stored in a DPB despitethat the I0 picture is first decoded according to a decoding order, theI0 picture may be output from the DPB and displayed via a bumpingprocess. Accordingly, the I0 picture is output after being delayed 4frames from a decoding time.

Accordingly, the video decoding apparatus 200 according to an exemplaryembodiment quickly outputs a decoded picture from a DPB without abumping process by setting a predetermined latency parameter from amoment each decoded picture is stored in the DPB by using aMaxLatencyFrames syntax indicating a maximum number of image framespreceding a predetermined frame in an image sequence based on a displayorder but behind the predetermined frame based on a decoding order,increasing a count of the latency parameter of the decoded picturestored in the DPB by 1 whenever each picture in the image sequence isdecoded according to the decoding order, and outputting a decodedpicture whose count of the latency parameter has reached theMaxLatencyFrames syntax from the DPB. In other words, the video decodingapparatus 200 initially assigns 0 as a latency parameter to a decodedpicture stored in a DPB when the decoded picture is stored in the DPB,and increases the latency parameter by 1 whenever a following picture isdecoded one-by-one according to a decoding order. Also, the videodecoding apparatus 200 compares the latency parameter with theMaxLatencyFrames syntax to output a decoded picture whose latencyparameter has the same value as the MaxLatencyFrames syntax from theDPB.

For example, when the MaxLatencyFrames syntax is n, wherein n is aninteger, a decoded picture first decoded based on the decoding order andstored in the DPB is assigned with 0 for a latency parameter. Then, thelatency parameter of the first decoded picture is increased by 1whenever following pictures are decoded according to the decoding order,and the first decoded and stored picture is output from the DPB when thelatency parameter reaches n, i.e., after a picture encoded (n)th basedon the decoding order is decoded.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for describing a process of outputting a decodedpicture from a DPB by using a MaxLatencyFrames syntax, according to anexemplary embodiment. In FIG. 18, it is assumed that a maximum size(MaxDpbSize) of the DPB is 4, i.e., the DPB is able to store 4 decodedpictures maximum, and the MaxLatencyFrames syntax is 0.

Referring to FIG. 18, since the MaxLatencyFrames syntax has a value of0, the video decoding apparatus 200 may immediately output a decodedpicture. In FIG. 18, the MaxLatencyFrames syntax has the value of 0 inan extreme case, but if the MaxLatencyFrames syntax has a value smallerthan 4, a point of time when the decoded picture is output from the DPBmay move up compared to when the decoded picture is output from the DPBafter being delayed 4 frames from a decoding time via a bumping process.

Meanwhile, an output time of the decoded picture may move up as theMaxLatencyFrames syntax has a smaller value, but since the decodedpicture stored in the DPB should be displayed according to a displayorder identical to that determined by an encoder, the decoded pictureshould not be output from the DPB until its display order is reachedeven if the decoded picture is pre-decoded.

Accordingly, the video encoding apparatus 100 determines aMaxLatencyFrames syntax indicating a maximum latency frame based on amaximum value of a difference between an encoding order and a displayorder of each image frame while encoding each of image frames that forman image sequence, inserts the MaxLatencyFrames syntax into a mandatorycomponent of an SPS, and transmits the MaxLatencyFrames syntax to theimage decoding apparatus 200.

Alternatively, the video encoding apparatus 100 may insert a syntax fordetermining the MaxLatencyFrames syntax, and a syntax indicating thenumber of image frames required to be reordered into the SPS instead ofdirectly inserting the MaxLatencyFrames syntax into the SPS. In detail,the video encoding apparatus 100 may determine a num_reorder_framessyntax indicating a maximum number of image frames required to bereordered as the image frames are first encoded based on an encodingorder from among image frames that form an image sequence but aredisplayed after post-encoded image frames based on a display order, andinsert a difference value between the MaxLatencyFrames syntax and thenum_reorder_frames syntax, i.e., a value of MaxLatencyFramessyntax−num_reorder_frames syntax, into the SPS instead of amax_latency_increase syntax for determining the MaxLatencyFrames syntax.When the num_reorder_frames syntax and the max_latency_increase syntaxare inserted into and transmitted with the SPS instead of theMaxLatencyFrames syntax, the video decoding apparatus 200 may determinethe MaxLatencyFrames syntax by using the value of(num_reorder_frames+max_latency_increase).

FIGS. 19A through 19D are diagrams for describing a MaxLatencyFramessyntax and a num_reorder_frames syntax, according to exemplaryembodiments. In FIGS. 19A through 19D, a POC denotes a display order,and an encoding order and a decoding order of image frames that form animage sequence in an encoder and a decoder are the same. Also, arrowsabove pictures F0 through F9 in the image sequence indicate referencepictures.

Referring to FIG. 19A, the picture F8 that is the last on the displayorder and encoded second on the encoding order is a picture having alargest difference value between the display order and the encodingorder. Also, the picture F8 is required to be reordered since thepicture F8 is encoded before the pictures F1 through F7 but behind thepictures F2 through F7 on the display order. Thus, thenum_reorder_frames syntax corresponding to the image sequence shown inFIG. 19A is 1. The video encoding apparatus 100 may set 7 that is thedifference value between the display order and the encoding order of thepicture F8 as a value of a MaxLatencyFrames syntax, insert the value ofthe MaxLatencyFrames syntax as a mandatory component of an SPS, andtransmit the value of the MaxLatencyFrames syntax to the video decodingapparatus 200. Alternatively, the video encoding apparatus 100 may set 7that is a difference value between 8 that is a value of aMaxLatencyFrames syntax and 1 that is a value of a num_reorder_framessyntax, as a value of a max_latency_increase syntax, insert thenum_reorder_frames syntax and the max_latency_increase syntax asmandatory components of an SPS instead of the MaxLatencyFrames syntax,and transmit the num_reorder_frames syntax and the max_latency_increasesyntax to the video decoding apparatus 200.

The video decoding apparatus 200 may add the num_reorder_frames syntaxand the max_latency_increase syntax transmitted with the SPS todetermine the MaxLatencyFrames syntax, and determine an output time of adecoded picture stored in the DPB by using the MaxLatencyFrames syntaxwithout any bumping process.

In an image sequence of FIG. 19B, differences between a display orderand an encoding order of all pictures excluding a picture F0 are 1.Pictures F2, F4, F6, and F8 are pictures that have a slow encoding orderbut have a fast display order from among pictures of the image sequenceof FIG. 19B, and thus are required to be reordered. There is only onepicture that has a slow encoding order but has a fast display orderbased on each of the pictures F2, F4, F6, and F8. For example, there isonly the picture F1 that has a slower encoding order but has a fasterdisplay order than the picture F2. Accordingly, a value of anum_reorder_frames syntax of the image sequence of FIG. 19B is 1. Thevideo encoding apparatus 100 may set 1 as a value of a MaxLatencyFramessyntax, insert the value of the MaxLatencyFrames syntax as a mandatorycomponent of an SPS, and transmit the value of the MaxLatencyFramessyntax to the video decoding apparatus 200. Alternatively, the videoencoding apparatus 100 may set 0 that is a difference value between 1that is a value of the MaxLatencyFrames syntax and 1 that is a value ofthe num_reorder_frames syntax, as a value of a max_latency_increasesyntax, insert the num_reorder_frame syntax and the max_latency_increasesyntax as mandatory components of the SPS instead of theMaxLatencyFrames syntax, and transmit the num_reorder_frame syntax andthe max_latency_increase syntax to the video decoding apparatus 200.

The video decoding apparatus 200 may add the num_reorder_frames syntaxand the max_latency_increase syntax transmitted with the SPS todetermine the MaxLatencyFrames syntax, and determine an output time of adecoded picture stored in the DPB by using the MaxLatencyFrames syntaxwithout any bumping process.

In an image sequence of FIG. 19C, a picture F8 that is the last on adisplay order and encoded second on an encoding order has a largestdifference value of 7 between the display order and the encoding order.Accordingly, a MaxLatencyFrames syntax is 7. Also, pictures F4 and F8are required to be reordered since the pictures F4 and F8 are encodedand stored in the DPB before pictures F1 through F3 based on thedecoding order but are displayed later than the pictures F1 through F3based on the display order, and thus a value of a num_reorder_framessyntax is 2. The video encoding apparatus 100 may set 7 as the value ofthe MaxLatencyFrames syntax, insert the value of the MaxLatencyFramessyntax as a mandatory component of an SPS, and transmit the value of theMaxLatencyFrames syntax to the video decoding apparatus 200.Alternatively, the video encoding apparatus 100 may set 5 that is adifference value between 7 that is the value of the MaxLatencyFramessyntax and 2 that is the value of the num_reorder_frames syntax, as avalue of a max_latency_increase syntax, insert the num_reorder_framessyntax and the max_latency_increase syntax as mandatory components ofthe SPS instead of the MaxLatencyFrames, and transmit thenum_reorder_frames syntax and the max_latency_increase syntax to thevideo decoding apparatus 200.

The video decoding apparatus 200 may add the num_reorder_frames syntaxand the max_latency_increase syntax transmitted with the SPS todetermine the MaxLatencyFrames syntax, and determine an output time of adecoded picture stored in the DPB by using the MaxLatencyFrames syntaxwithout any bumping process.

In an image sequence of FIG. 19D, pictures F4 and F8 have a maximumvalue of 3 of a difference value between a display order and an encodingorder. Accordingly, a value of a MaxLatencyFrames syntax is 3. Also,pictures F2 and F4 are required to be reordered since the pictures F2and F4 are encoded before a picture F1 but are displayed later than thepicture F1 based on the display order. Also, pictures F6 and F8 arerequired to be reordered since the pictures F6 and F8 are encoded beforea picture F5 and are displayed later than the picture F5 based on thedisplay order. Thus a value of a num_reorder_frames syntax is 2. Thevideo encoding apparatus 100 may set 3 as the value of theMaxLatencyFrames syntax, insert the value of the MaxLatencyFrames syntaxas a mandatory component of an SPS, and transmit the value of theMaxLatencyFrames syntax to the video decoding apparatus 200.Alternatively, the video encoding apparatus 100 may set 1 that is adifference value between 3 that is the value of the MaxLatencyFramessyntax and 2 that is the value of the num_reorder_frames syntax, as avalue of a max_latency_increase syntax, insert the num_reorder_framessyntax and the max_latency_increase syntax as mandatory components ofthe SPS instead of the MaxLatencyFrames, and transmit thenum_reorder_frames syntax and the max_latency_increase syntax to thevideo decoding apparatus 200.

The video decoding apparatus 200 may add the num_reorder_frames syntaxand the max_latency_increase syntax transmitted with the SPS todetermine the MaxLatencyFrames syntax, and determine an output time of adecoded picture stored in the DPB by using the MaxLatencyFrames syntaxwithout any bumping process.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an image encoding method accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 20, in operation 2010, the maximum coding unitsplitter 110 and the coding unit determiner 120 (hereinafter, commonlycalled an encoder), which perform encoding in a VCL of the videoencoding apparatus 100, determine a reference frame of each of imageframes that form an image sequence by performing motion prediction andcompensation, and encode each image frame by using the determinedreference frame.

In operation 2020, the output unit 130 determines a maximum size of abuffer required to decode each image frame by a decoder, and the numberof image frames required to be reordered, based on an encoding order ofimage frames, an encoding order of reference frames referred to by theimage frames, a display order of the image frames, and a display orderof the reference frames. In detail, the output unit 130 determines amax_dec_frame_buffering syntax indicating a maximum size of a DPBrequired to decode each image frame by a decoder based on an encodingorder (or a decoding order) of image frames and an encoding order (or adecoding order) of reference frames referred to by the image frames,inserts the max_dec_frame_buffering syntax into an SPS corresponding toheader information of an image sequence, and transmits themax_dec_frame_buffering syntax to an encoder. As described above, theoutput unit 130 includes the max_dec_frame_buffering syntax in the SPSas mandatory information instead of selective information.

In operation 2030, the output unit 130 determines latency information ofan image frame having a largest difference between an encoding order anda display order from among the image frames that form the imagesequence, based on the number of image frames required to be reordered.In detail, the output unit 130 determines a MaxLatencyFrames syntaxbased on a maximum value of a difference between an encoding order and adisplay order of each image frame while encoding the image frames thatform the image sequence. Also, the output unit 130 may determine anum_reorder_frames syntax indicating a maximum number of image framesthat are first encoded according to an encoding order based on apredetermined image frame from among the image frames of the imagesequence and displayed after a post-encoded image frame based on adisplay order, and thus required to be reordered, and insert adifference value between the MaxLatencyFrames syntax and thenum_reorder_frames syntax, i.e., a value of MaxLatencyFramessyntax−num_reorder_frames, into an SPS as a max_latency_increase syntaxfor determining the MaxLatencyFrames syntax. If the num_reorder_framessyntax and the max_latency_increase syntax indicating the value ofMaxLatencyFrames syntax−num_reorder_frames syntax are included in andtransmitted with the SPS, instead of the MaxLatencyFrames syntax, thevideo decoding apparatus 200 may determine the MaxLatencyFrames syntaxby using the value of MaxLatencyFrames syntax−num_reorder_frames syntax.

In operation 2040, the output unit 130 generates a bitstream byincluding the max_dec_frame_buffering syntax, the num_reorder_framessyntax, and the max_latency_increase syntax as mandatory components ofthe SPS.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating an image decoding method accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 21, in operation 2110, the image data and encodinginformation extractor 220 obtains an NAL unit of an NAL from abitstream, and obtains a max_dec_frame_buffering syntax indicating amaximum size of a buffer, a num_reorder_frames syntax indicating thenumber of image frames required to be reordered, and amax_latency_increase syntax for determining a MaxLatencyFrames syntaxfrom the NAL unit including an SPS.

In operation 2120, the DPB included in the image data decoder 230 setsthe maximum size of the buffer required to decode the image sequence byusing the max_dec_frame_buffering syntax.

In operation 2130, the image data and encoding information extractor 220obtains encoded data of an image frame included in a VCL NAL unit, andoutputs the obtained encoded data to the image data decoder 230. Theimage data decoder 230 obtains a decoded image frame by decoding theencoded image data.

In operation 2140, the DPB of the image data decoder 230 stores thedecoded image frame.

In operation 2150, the DPB determines whether to output the storeddecoded image frame by using the num_reorder_frames syntax and themax_latency_increase syntax. In detail, the DPB determines theMaxLatencyFrames syntax by adding the num_reorder_frames syntax and themax_latency_increase syntax. The DPB sets a predetermined latencyparameter for each decoded and stored image frame, increases a count ofthe predetermined latency parameter by 1 whenever an image frame of theimage sequence is decoded according to a decoding order, and outputs thedecoded image frame whose count of the predetermined latency parameterreached the MaxLatencyFrames syntax.

One or more exemplary embodiments can also be embodied ascomputer-readable codes on a computer-readable recording medium. Thecomputer-readable recording medium is any data storage device that canstore data which can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examplesof the computer-readable recording medium include read-only memory(ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppydisks, optical data storage devices, etc. The computer-readablerecording medium can also be distributed over network-coupled computersystems so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed in adistributed fashion.

While exemplary embodiments have been particularly shown and describedabove, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art thatvarious changes in form and details may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims. Exemplary embodiments should be considered in adescriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Therefore,the scope of the invention is defined not by the detailed description ofexemplary embodiments but by the appended claims, and all differenceswithin the scope will be construed as being included in the presentinvention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus of decoding an image, theapparatus comprising: an image data and encoding information extractorfor obtaining a first syntax indicating a maximum size of a bufferrequired to decode picture included in an image sequence, a secondsyntax indicating maximum number of pictures that can precede any firstpicture in the image sequence in decoding order and follow the any firstpicture in display order, the pictures being required to be reordered,and a third syntax used to obtain latency information indicating maximumnumber of pictures that can precede any second picture in the imagesequence in the output order and follow the any second picture indecoding order, from a bitstream; a decoder for decoding the bitstream;and a buffer for storing the decoded image frames, wherein the decoderdetermines a maximum size of a buffer storing decoded picture based onthe first syntax, and determines whether to output the decoded picturestored in the buffer based on the second syntax and the third syntax byincreasing a latency parameter count of the decoded picture stored inthe buffer by a predetermined value when a picture include in the imagesequence is decoded and outputs the decoded picture from the buffer whenthe latency parameter count of the decoded picture is equal to thelatency information, and wherein the first syntax, the second syntax,and the third syntax are included in a sequence parameter set.